Honey Does: The Garage {Before & After}

Hello ladies,

What a “delight” to be back on the blog today, as Amanda would say.  It’s been too long.  (I’m kidding.)  When we moved into this house (and the last one come to think of it), Amanda pretty much gave me free will to decorate however I wanted.  As long as it was contained to the garage and the basement storage areas.  After weeding my way through this mess every time the garbage needed to go out or a bike tire needed to be pumped, I drew up some plans to put everything in its place. 

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April 2013 022 
I measured the long wall of the garage and then made a list of everything I thought we’d have to store for the long term.  I counted things like baseball bags and tennis racquets and excluded things like the ridiculous inflatable dolphin pool that’s had a leak since the weekend after we got it five years ago.  (I think I was supposed to patch that.)  I decided to use the same Home Depot unfinished prefabricated cabinets that I used in the basement reno.  They are affordable and could be painted in whatever color Amanda’s heart desired since that was where her creative license on this project began and ended.  After figuring out how to align the necessary lockers to the space, I purchased the cabinets and built the base.  From the base, I then built the side walls, as you can start to see in the picture below.  Finally, I put a top on the walls and then mounted the cabinets to the wall in the space above.  I bought a paint sprayer to do the cabinets but after I inadvertently painted the ceiling and walls with it I then had to hire a painter to re-do the entire garage – trim, ceilings, walls and doors.

April 2013 024

Since I’m not a blogger, I didn’t take a whole lot of pictures.  Here is the finished garage locker space – nice and neat.

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Here you can see the space a little better.  Obviously my wife got a hold of more than the paint color, as I’m sure you guessed from the Welcome sign and rug.

  

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Amanda got this welcome sign in an antique store on her and her sister’s annual visit to Ron’s place in New Orleans.  (She asked me twenty five times to make sure I noted that.  Says y’all like to know where everything comes from.  “Sources, Honey.  Don’t forget the sources.  People NEED that information.”)

May 2013 476 copy

The wall next to the guest locker has hooks for towels and swim suits and a dirty laundry basket.  This is where our (meaning us boys) dirty wet rolled up socks that are usually deposited all over the garage are now supposed to land.  The crab was an unfinished wood piece cut by Tamera at Scrappin Plus on etsy (Amanda insists it is important that I let you know it’s from the same lady who did our wood monograms here and here.)  Amanda and her Mother painted it the same color as the door.

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The laundry baskets are from Target.  Amanda added a label out of chalk board paper.  (How am I doing with the sources?)

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We got a new door put on the garage with the other exterior work we’ve been doing, and we relocated our kitchen fridge to the garage in order to feed our bottomless pits.  Bikes, scooters and helmets go in this space.

I recently fitted the two large closets with plastic shelving to store Amanda’s strangely LARGE collection of pillows, tubs and vessels (for parties she says), cleaning supplies, and things like paper towels, toilet paper and trash bags.

From left to right we have lockers for:  golf, camping, fishing, balls, pool/beach and then one for Whit and one for John.  The boy’s lockers hold their baseball bags, tennis rackets, bike helmets, shoes and other gear.

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Amanda attached vintage locker numbers that she found at Paris Market in Savannah on all the baskets.  I actually think they are pretty cool.  The baskets were ordered from Amazon with the gift card we won last year from One Project Closer.

May 2013 483 copy

 
(Update 7/2015) Since Amanda tricked me into adding “garage shelving” to my 40×41 list, I figured I might as well tackle it while I was between jobs for a few days.  We pawned the bounce house off on the cousins and I relocated the red wagon Amanda cannot bear to part with to the attic.  The custom shelves now store our corn hole boards and cooler, the tailgate tent and large camping tent, beach chairs, yard games, more of those party tubs, some of the masses of Lilly stuff she bought at Target, toys and grilling gear.

There is just enough room on either side for my two grills, yard tools and the garbage can.  I can’t believe Amanda hasn’t got her hands on that yet.

The last thing I did was replace the old “atrocious” (to quote Amanda) light fixtures with new drum lights from Ikea.
August 2013 405 copy - Copy

August 2013 404 copy - Copy 

The paint colors are the same from the outside of the house.  They are all by Benjamin Moore.  Doors – Grenada Villa, below chair rail + cabinets – Revere Pewter, above chair rail – Pale Oak, trim – White Dove.

I’m thinking about hanging crown molding in John’s bedroom this week because Amanda and the boys are getting out of my hair down in Savannah.  That’s probably smart since the last time I did it there were a few four letter words flying around.

Have a good day,
“Honey”

Flattered for the features at Centsational Girl, I Heart Organizing, J@Monkey, Elly Beth, Favorite Paint Colors, By Stephanie Lynn, Evolution of Style, From My Front Porch to Yours, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia and I Heart Nap Time!

By dixiedelights | Filed under Uncategorized | Tags: , ,

76 thoughts on “Honey Does: The Garage {Before & After}”

  1. "Honey" (if I may be so bold).
    You are a definite KEEPER!! Great post and you followed all the rules!
    Denise

  3. Great job Honey. I love how you mixed pre-built cabinets with custom sized lockers. Brilliant!

  4. Who doesn't like their initials on everything??? If it doesn't move on its own, monogram it.

    Great work in the garage though!

  6. I love it! Who knew a garage could look so stylish! We're in the process of moving and this is definitely going to be saved away for when we're organizing a new garage with all kinds of "stuff." And I will totally take that bounce castle off your hands! We are in the market for one soon. :)

  8. I love the "honey" posts!! You learn so much from a man's perspective! Can't wait to see the crown molding reveal!!
    – Chi

  11. Well, Honey, you did a great job as a blogger. I mentioned to Daddy-O that you have a comedic streak to your writing, and he said, "No wonder, he does have to live with Amanda!" I agree!

  12. Honey, this is best looking garage I've ever seen! I am Pinning and simultaneously showing my "Honey" these pics, with lots of ohhing and awwwing. Do you teach motivational classes by chance, bc he hates DIY projects?! Great job, it looks like an extension of your home, not like a grosse garage :-) And thank you for all the Sources, yes, they are SO important ;-)

  15. Amazing job! and a fun read…..sorry Honey but I have to help monogram the world!!

    Tricia

    ps – to Amanda to commented, my toes are monogrammed too! (and I'm a mover)

  16. Simply wonderful….Now to find the hubs and show him what the next few weeks he will be doing. Thanks for showing!!! Love it all
    Chrissy Jones
    Maryville, TN.

  17. This has been pinned and shown to my own Honey :o) You have really achieved organizing perfection with this one! Will you (please, please!) have the time to give more specific plans for how you made the bases? Thanks!

  19. Beautiful garage! When we moved into our house 3 years ago, my DH painted our garage floor a wonderful grey using "Concrete & Garage Floor Paint" and it made all the difference in the world in how the garage looks. He is very good at fixing or makng just about anything around our house,thank goodness, but he has tons of tools in his Craftsman tool chest and also there are sections in our garage for "boat repair stuff", excess paint gallons, and other things that just take up space. I do want to know where your tools and guy stuff is?

  20. Honey has raised the bar pretty high for all the other DHs out there! And to reveal on the weekend during potential DIY time is so sweet! Love it!

  24. Wow, it looks amazing!! Well done! I had to forward this to my own "Honey" to take note for our future garage :)

  26. Your garage looks amazing and so organized. You did a great job.

    New follower too..

    Can I ask, how the heck did you get the Pinterest button to show up on your photos. I have researched how to do it on blogspot and can't find it anywhere. Any help would be great.

    Thanks

  32. Oh gosh, the floors are stained up beat up concrete. He still wants to use one of those garage floor epoxies on it in the future. Although he also mentioned putting down astro turf. say what??

  33. The tools and such are in the work room in the basement. The kids use the garage all the time and we try to keep all of that stuff put away out of reach.

  34. oh. my. God!!!! literally. speechless. even your garage is beautiful and organized!!!! lol!! you and hubby make a great team! awesome post by the husband!! lord have mercy, we have tried to tackle our garage FOREVER- seriously it is the biggest obstacle! thanks for this post- this has definitely given me the inspiration i need to tackle the garage!! question- what do yall do for storage and out of season things? our garage is filled w/ boxes of our clothes, xmas/halloween things and lots of junk- we dont have a basement or attic to put it in. your garage is so clean! i love it!

  36. Wow – you did an incredible job! I will have to show my husband these pictures because he needs to see what an organized garage should look like! Thanks for listing sources because yes, people NEED that information!
    Great job! – Shelley

  37. This is the most amazing garage update I have ever seen – who knew a garage could look so good. You got me thinking so I sent it to my "honey" and he wants to know the measurements of your garage. My "honey" wonders if our cars will still fit. Thanks!

  42. oh I LOVE this!!! we just moved to a house a few weeks ago with a garage for the first time in 20 years!! I'm SO showing this to my husband!!

  45. Oh my gosh, are you KIDDING me? I loooove this! So organized, so functional, so perfect! I'm working on a space like this for a client, and this is exactly what she needs! Well done!

  51. OMG this is so great! Thanks for linking up to The CSI Project this week. I cannot get over how great this is. lol
    I would love for you to be a guest judge sometime. I am looking for new guest judges.
    email me if you are interested
    [email protected]

  52. Your garage is a dream! My hubby wants to put over head cabinets in our garage also but I am afraid there wouldn't be that much we could put in the cabinets due to size restrictions. In my mind it wouldn't be very efficient. May I ask what sort of things you are able store in you upper cabinets? Thanks!

  54. Wow your garage is huge! Can I ask where you live? I have concerns about salt the cars will bring in from the winter weather

  55. This is an amazing makeover. And even more enjoyeable to read it from a man's perspective. You did great with the sources :). I'm not sure which makes you more of a keeper–the work you did on the garage, or that you wrote the post about it. Love it.

  57. Beautiful! My dream garage!

    We also live in the south, and I have to ask: do you not have a problem with spiders in the garage? I would love to have cubbies for the kids to keep their shoes and bags in the garage since we don't have a proper mudroom, but we have a terrible problem with spiders, including black widows. We constantly have to check toys, baseball gloves, etc. I could never leave shoes in the garage.

    Just curious about what others do to keep the spiders at bay!

  58. How about I move in with you? No, well, then maybe you could just come to TN and design the home that I need to build for my family of 4 and we call it a day? I LOVE the cubbies in the garage. Of course they usually look great in a mud room, but I have always had mixed feelings about how I would be able to keep them straightened and looking presentable…..I think you just solved that problem for me.

  62. A garage floor epoxy would tie every thing together to give it a more polished look. Helps the space look cleaner, too.

  65. Can you tell me what kind and color paint is on the door? Trying to match something, having a hard time, but this looks right! Love this space!

  66. Amanda – I know this is an old post, but hopefully you'll still see this. How well does the drum light from Ikea work? Do you feel like it gives enough light? I have those on my list for a couple of places (including the garage) but wondered how bright they are. Thanks!

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